New Faces, New Voices

      In my last post I had my curmudgeon on as I cast a jaundiced eye on the Oscars and the news media. Today I'm feeling a lot more positive and hopeful for the future.

     Why? I watched The Grammys, which in my opinion is a much more entertaining show focusing on young people making interesting and exciting music. Not all of it do I like. But a lot of it is good. And it offers a fresh new look at the world for these tired old eyes and ears of mine.

     To be honest, I don't follow the music world very closely . . . or essentially, not at all. So watching the Grammys is a way for me to discover new music that otherwise I would never hear of. (I typically listen to Classic Rock stations on Sirius XM in the car, or else an all-news station, occasionally classical music.)

     So while the Oscars give us lame and tasteless jokes, ponderous speeches and awards for obscure indie films, the Grammys feature live performances by top acts and new talent -- and much less in the way of personal pet peeves or political posturing.

     The show, hosted by the affable late-night talk show host Trevor Noah, opened up with a performance by Olivia Rodrigo. Ever hear of her? I hadn't. She's young; she's pretty. You might think her music is sappy, but I'm guessing your teenage grandchildren are likely big fans. She sang a adolescently angst number called Drivers License. It's clearly aimed at the younger audience, not people like me. But hey, I remember those days, and I liked it anyway.

     Some other popular performers who were new to me:

     Jon Bastiste performed his hit "Freedom."

     H.E.R. did a medley.

     BTS, a K-pop group, acted out a song called "Butter."

     There was a number by a group called Silk Sonic. One of the guys looked familiar. Bruno Mars? Yes. I remembered him from a previous Grammy show, plus a Superbowl halftime show. Now, apparently he's teamed up with a fellow named Anderson .Paak to form a kind of pop, R&B soul group. They're pretty good! By the way, you can find all these songs on youtube if you're interested.

     My favorite of the night was Billie Eilish. I'd heard of her. But I didn't know any of her songs. This is her new one called "Happier Than Ever." 

     Some of the acts were familiar names. My wife's favorite country singer Chris Stapleton sang his hit "Cold." Carrie Underwood performed her new song "Ghost Story." Lady Gaga, Nas, Justin Bieber, John Legend all made appearances.

     There was more, plenty more. But to tell the truth, the show went on past my bedtime, so I didn't see it all. But if you're interested, the Billboard Music Awards are coming up on Sunday, May 15, broadcast by NBC TV. You'll be able to watch a lot of the same acts -- and enjoy some of the vibrant creativity going on in our country today, the creativity we sometimes forget about as we moan and groan about the state of our country, the state of the world, and how things aren't as good as they used to be.

Does Our Spirit Carry On?

     I recently read a novel called Bewilderment by Richard Powers. The author, a professor at Stanford University, has an impressive resume, so maybe he knows something we don't.

     He has studied both physics and English literature. He has written a dozen books. He was awarded a MacArthur genius fellow, won the National Book Award and a Pulitzer Prize, and is, according to Oprah Winfrey, "one of our country's greatest living writers."

     Bewilderment follows the story of Theo Byrne, an astrobiologist at the University of Wisconsin who lost his wife in a car accident and now takes care of his son Robin who is “on the spectrum.” Science comes to the rescue, as the boy takes part in an experimental program that allows him to feel his deceased mother’s emotions. Unfortunately, political pressures intervene and shut down the program, leading the boy to . . . well, I won't give away the story.

     The book is strictly secular. It's ridiculous to think, according to the author, that there's a God who has given us a special place in the universe, who watches over us, planning rewards and punishments for our actions on Earth. The universe is too large, the possibilities for other life -- even intelligent life -- are too great, and it's just an act of narcissism to think there is anything unique or special about us humans.

     Yet a fellow scientist at the university has developed this computer system that captures the emotions of Theo's dead wife, and allows Robin to connect with his mother. The boy begins to feel what his mother feels, to understand how she loves him and what she wants for him. This in turn brings the troubled boy a measure of relief. It calms him down, dissipates his anger, gives him perspective, and offers the boy an almost normal life.

     The story made me realize what some religious conservatives mean when they claim that science is another religion all in itself. After all, science seeks to discover how we got here, why we are here, and what happens to us after we're gone. Isn't that what religion is all about?

     So even in the Powers non-religious world, we're not completely gone when we die. Science has a way to keep us around -- not just in photos and films and recordings, but in our emotional and aspirational essence, so we can communicate with people we've left behind and help guide the lives of our loved ones.

     I guess all of us hope that there is some form of life after death, however murky our view of it may be. No one wants to believe that death is the bitter, final end.

     There are many songs and speeches, prayers and poems to inspire us to believe in some kind of afterlife. You likely have your own favorites. Here is an unlikely one from the rock band Dream Theater called Our Spirit Carries On. It gives me chills every time I hear it. I hope it does something for you, too.

Do Something Different

     For those who were asking . . . my book, You Only Retire Once, is now available on amazon for kindle or other electronic device. Hope you find it informative and entertaining!

     But I'm here to tell you about something else. B and I spent this past weekend in Pennsylvania visiting her family. We decided to stop off and spend a day in Philadelphia on the way home. We toured through a couple of neighborhoods, including Fishtown where we had lunch at a coffee emporium called La Colombe.

     It turns out La Colombe is a small chain -- there are other restaurants in New York, Washington and Chicago -- but this one is housed in an old factory building, with ceilings about 30 feet high. Most of the diners were 20-something hipsters -- the only ones over 30, besides us, were a few women with long, gray tangled hair wearing flowing cotton dresses, and guys in jeans sporting bald spots and gray ponytails.

     We stayed at a Doubletree, right downtown, and were headed out to our usual sedate, mid-priced dinner when we saw, across the street at the Philadelphia Academy of Music, there was a show called So You Think You Can Dance.

     "It's a TV show, right?" I said to B.

     "Yeah, kind of like American Idol, except it's dancing," she offered.

     So you know we'd never seen this show; didn't know anything about it. The show is not to be confused with Dancing with the Stars, which we have seen a few times.

     Now, B and I do go dancing sometimes. We take ballroom lessons through adult education at our middle school. Our class consists of six gray-haired couples. About once a month we go to a dance at the American Legion. It's all very mild and proper.

     Anyway, we're standing on Broad Street in Philadelphia and I looked at B, and she looked at me, and then, as if by mutual understanding, we acted on a whim and stepped inside, just to see if there were any tickets available. And sure enough, we soon found ourselves in Row E, waiting for the action to begin, hoping that we didn't do something stupid and waste our money.

     This was completely uncharacteristic for us. We go to restaurants, movies and events where the other people, as we joke, are "in our demographic." But the people here were not over 60, like us. Most were under 40, many of them under 20.

     Now maybe some of you have followed So You Think You Can Dance on TV. The show just finished its 12th season. But we had no idea what to expect. Still, we couldn't help getting a little excited, because the Academy of Music holds 2,500 people, and it was full of enthusiastic, sometimes screaming fans. The music started and it was LOUD. But we got used to it, and we were charmed by the young men and women who came leaping and jumping and flying across the stage.

     We both liked Hailee Payne, a bleached-blonde Miley Cyrus look-alike who could do amazing things with her body. I liked Ja Ja, who looked like a cute girl-next-door type; but actually her background is the street, not the stage -- hip hop, not ballet.

     This is the live show that is touring the country, after the TV show finished up its contest in September. A young woman named Gaby Diaz was the winner. She did an impressive solo tap dance on the Philadelphia stage, along with all the other acrobatic routines.

     But it was a young man named Virgil Gadson who stole the show. He could dance with the best of them; he had a winning smile and his personality jumped off the stage. Virgil was the one who consistently got the most audience reaction. I was going to say applause. But applause was the least of it -- there was cheering, whistling, laughing, screaming.

     It was only after the show, as we all stood up to leave, that a man in the row behind us turned to the middle-age couple next to him and asked if they knew Virgil. Apparently their cheering had given them away. The woman replied that, yes, they were his parents. You must be so proud of him, I ventured. And they nodded, their broad grins widening even more.

     So we had a memorable time in Philadelphia, just because we took a chance and decided to do something we don't usually do, something beyond our comfort zone.

     This is not necessarily to recommend you run off to see So You Think You Can Dance. Just to go out and do something different for a change. Go ahead, take a little chance. You might like it.

     Here are Virgil and Ja Ja.

Playing Hooky

     I was sitting at my computer for a while, trying to write a blog post, but instead of getting down to business I wandered over to youtube and started playing some music:  Pink Floyd, The Band, Ben Folds, David Gray, Neil Young. I was in that kind of mood.

     And this one, "Long Road" sung by Pearl Jam's Eddie Vedder . . .

     I started following Pearl Jam when my son sang one of their songs, Jeremy, in his high-school a cappella group. If the voice sounds familiar, even if you don't know Pearl Jam and Eddie Vedder, it may be because the song was featured in the 2007 movie Into the Wild. The film was based on Jon Krakaur's book about a young Emory University graduate who hitchhiked to Alaska and met his fate in 1992.

That Old Rock 'n Roll Music

     I confess, I have always had a soft spot in my heart for the "oldies." For a long time I listened to radio stations that advertised they were playing, "The songs we grew up with." I kept my old albums and tapes and CDs.

     When I bought my last car, I signed up for Sirius XM Radio. Now I listen to the '50s channel, the '60s channel, and sometimes the '70s channel.

     Music from the 1960s is still my favorite, because that's when I was a teenager, and even though to this day I have mixed feelings about those years, the fact is, that's when popular music becomes internalized -- when you associate certain songs and bands with particular rites of passage.

     I remember my sister had a 45-rpm record player, and she would listen to Dion and Rick Nelson and Neil Sedaka all night long.

     I remember to this day, hanging out at a friend's house, and hearing those first strains of a Beach Boys tune.

     I hear "I've Got You, Babe" and I'm sitting on my girlfriend's front porch in the summertime.

     "We Gotta Get Out of This Place" -- I'm at school, just before Thanksgiving, looking forward to the long weekend.

     "Good Lovin'"  -- I'm at a party at a friend's house.

     "Sunshine of Your Love" -- at an outdoor concert.

     Rubber Soul -- Played over and over again on a three-day school trip. And later Abbey Road, played over and over again in a college dorm room.

    I've listened to so many of these songs so many times. But I've gotten tired of many of them. They've lost their emotional pull -- their lovin' feelin'.

     So sometimes I flip over to the '70s station. I was in college in the early 70's and still listened to a lot of music. But by the mid-'70s I'd graduated and was working and getting married, and I had better things to do than listen to the radio or sit around fiddling with my tape deck. Besides (wouldn't you agree?) by and large popular music from the 1970s was less compelling than the music of the 1960s.

     And '80s music? God only knows. I never listened to it. My children were born in the 1980s, and the song I sang along with for most of the 1980s was: "The eensy weensy spider crawled up the water spout . . ."

     Now I'm listening to the '50s channel more and more. I find that the songs are inventive, and they seem fresh to me. I was too young in the 1950s to hear most of those songs the first time around (except for Elvis, which my older sister liked; and The Kingston Trio which my older brother liked). And so, unlike the songs of the '60s, I am not yet sick and tired of them.

     Just so you know, I'm not a complete boob when it comes to music. Sometimes I listen to classical. I turn to the Bluegrass station every once in a while. I listen to contemporary Indie rock. And because I go dancing with B and we do cha cha, rumba, salsa and bachata, I also enjoy Latin music.

     But I admit, I spend most of my car time listening to the oldies. And here's the problem with that. You forget that time has gone by. The Beatles or the Rolling Stones or the Four Tops come on the radio; and in my mind (without even realizing it) it's 1966 and I'm in high school.

     "I've Got You, Babe" starts up and I'm driving around my hometown, going to see my girlfriend, and maybe over to the swimming pool. Then it hits me. Sonny died a long time ago. Cher is on Social Security.

     Two of the four Beatles are now dead. Two of the Four Tops. Two of the Beach Boys. Those gloriously youthful Mamas and Papas? Three out of four of them are long gone.

     We all know about The Day the Music Died, and we recall how Elvis tragically died in his bathroom. Do you know about the curse of 27? The rock stars who died when they were 27 years old:  Brian Jones of the Rolling Stones; Jimi Hendrix; Janis Joplin; Jim Morrison of The Doors; and more recently Kurt Cobain of Nirvana and Amy Winehouse.

     Jeez, 27? That's younger than my younger child!

     And when did Roy Orbison die? Wilson Picket? Marvin Gaye. Davy Jones of The Monkees. Harry Nilsson. Tiny Tim ... remember him? Laura Nyro; Dusty Springfield; Rick Danko and Levon Helm of The Band; and Andy, Robin and Maurice Gibbs. Joey, Johnny, Dee Dee and Tommy Ramone.

     Suddenly, listening to the 1960s station takes on a sadder note, as you realize:  a lot of  time . . . has . . . gone. . . by.

     But wait. We know people die. As far as those of us who live on, maybe those old singers would be happy to know that we're still listening to their music, singing along, reliving our younger years. Here's one list of the Top Ten Songs of the Sixties, and another from Rolling Stone. And there are plenty of others.

     So let the beat go on . . . here's an oldie from Rick Danko and Levon Helm of The Band.

Mad Men Love Baby Boomers

     I saw an ad on TV the other day for Lenscrafters Featherwates that features the song "Up on the Roof" and made me think once again of how often our advertisers hark back to the 1950s, '60s and '70s for their background music. It just makes you think:  even in our youth-obsessed culture we Baby Boomers are still relevant!

     Actually, one of my first blog posts, The '60s Live Forever in Ads in Nov. 2010, focused on this very phenomenon. But there's lots more to report on since then.

     An ad for the 2014 Chevy Impala features Frank Sinatra's 1964 song "Fly Me to the Moon."

     Stevie Wonder's 1972 tune "Superstition" provides the background music for a Bud Light commercial.

     Target went back even further, to 1958 and Connie Francis singing "Fallin'" for an ad about a line of clothes.

     AT&T rounded up several oldies, from John Denver to Creedence Clearwater Revival for their Road Music 4G ad.

     Or, how about this R-rated ad for Carl's Junior and Hardee's charboiled fish sandwich with Bobby Darin singing his 1959 version of "Beyond the Sea" ... and, oh yeah, featuring supermodel Nina Agdal.

     Mercedes Benz used the Rolling Stones "Sympathy for the Devil" in its 2013 Superbowl ad.

     And then there's this ad, for the Budweiser Clydesdales, which ran during the 2013 Superbowl. I'm sure you'll recognize Stevie Nicks and her 1975 hit "Landslide."

Remember Him?

     He came from the north country. Minnesota to be exact. Born in Duluth on May 26, 1941.

     His paternal grandparents, Zigman and Anna Zimmerman, immigrated to America from Odessa, after the anti-Semitic pogroms in Russia in 1905; his material grandparents came from Lithuania. His parents, Abram and Beatrice, were part of a close-knit Jewish community in Duluth, until Abram contracted polio and the family moved to a small town in the iron-ore producing Mesabi Range, 80-some miles northwest of Duluth.

      In high school he played in several bands, imitating Little Richard and Elvis Presley. Once, when his band performed "Rock 'n Roll is Here to Stay" at a high school talent show, the principle cut off the microphone claiming the band was too loud. In his senior year, using the name Elston Gunnn (yes, 3 n's), he earned $15 a night  -- but only for a couple of nights -- playing piano with fellow teenager and aspiring rock musician Bobby Vee.

University of Minnesota

     He graduated from high school in 1959, moved to Minneapolis and enrolled at the University of Minnesota. He started playing at a local coffeehouse called Ten O'Clock Scholar, where his interest in rock 'n roll expanded to folk music. He was influenced by Woody Guthrie and Hank Williams, later recalling, "The thing about rock 'n roll is that for me anyway it wasn't enough ... There were great catch-phrases and driving pulse rhythms, but the songs weren't serious or didn't reflect life in a realistic way. I knew that when I got into folk music, it was more of a serious thing. The songs are filled with more despair, more sadness, more triumph ... much deeper feelings."

     At the end of his freshman year he dropped out of college, and a few months later decided to travel to New York City to see if he could meet his musical idol Woodie Guthrie. He arrived in New York, decamped in Greenwich Village, then journeyed out to a hospital in New Jersey where he succeeded in meeting the folk legend who at the time was seriously ill from Huntington's disease. The young man, just 20 years old, vowed to become Guthrie's greatest disciple.

     Those of you who know your rock 'n roll history probably already know who this iconic singer/songwriter is. Soon the whole world would know, as he began to play and sing in Greenwich Village clubs, and hang out with fellow folksingers Dave Van Ronk, Odetta, the Clancy Brothers, Joan Baez.

     In 1962 he released his first album, consisting mostly of covers of standard folk tunes. The record landed with a thud, selling only 5000 copies and barely breaking even. Then using the name Bob Landy he contributed to a blues album, and as Tedham Porterhouse he played harmonica on a record for Ramblin' Jack Elliott, another disciple of Woodie Guthrie.

     His second album was released in May 1963, and this time his record featured original songs, including "Blowin' in the Wind" and "A Hard Rain's a-Gonna Fall." The album was called The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan and proved a breakthrough of historic proportions.

50 years ago

     Some critics were put off by the rough edge of Bob Dylan's voice, but he found many admirers among his contemporaries, including The Beatles, and soon many musical acts were begging to record his songs, from Peter, Paul and Mary to the Byrds and the Beatles themselves.

     Bob Dylan's third album, The Times They Are a-Changin' reflected a more political side of the songwriter, and then in 1965 he stunned the music world at the Newport Jazz Festival by bringing out an electric guitar. He released Bringing It All Back Home, which featured recordings with electronic instruments, and then he put out a single "Like a Rolling Stone," which proved to be his biggest hit and was ranked by Rolling Stone Magazine as the Number 1 "Greatest Song of All Time."

     There's lots more to the Bob Dylan story, of course. There are several books out by and about Bob Dylan, including Dylan's own memoir Chronicles: Volume One, and the definitive book on his early career, No Direction Home by New York Times critic Robert Shelton. In 2005 movie director Martin Scorsese produced a Dylan documentary, again focusing on his early years and also called No Direction Home.

     And yes, Bob Dylan is still alive and well and touring. If you want to go see for yourself, he's appearing this weekend in Charleston, SC, and St. Augustine, FL, and again in June in Palm Beach, Tampa, Atlanta and Nashville. For his complete tour dates go to his website bobdylan.com.

     Meantime, here's Dylan in Madison Square Garden at the 1971 Concert for Bangladesh, singing "A Hard Rain's a-Gonna Fall" from his breakthrough album of 50 years ago.

Where's Tom Sightings?

     I'm taking a little vacation. (Hey, I'm retired, I can go on vacation whenever I want!). I'll give you one guess where I'm going ...

     I'm not leaving until tomorrow. But, "In my mind, I'm already gone . . . ."

Remember Him?

     Everyone's going to remember this person, even though he died 32 years ago.

     He was born in 1940 during the depths of World War II. His mother's name was Julia. His father, Alfred, worked as a merchant seaman and was away at the time of his son's birth.

     His father disappeared "absent without leave" in 1944, which left his wife and young son without means of support. When Alfred later returned home and wanted to reestablish his family, Julia was already pregnant by another man, and she refused his offer.

     Julia eventually remarried, but asked her sister to take care of her boy. Then Alfred wanted to take him back, with a plan to move to Australia. Julia objected, putting the young boy in the position of having to choose between his mother and father. At first he elected to go with his father, but in the end he held his mother's hand and followed her home. It would be 20 years before he saw his father again.

     As might be imagined, he had a rebellious nature and didn't fit in well at school. "I was the one," he later wrote, "who all the other boys' parents would say, 'Keep away from him.' The parents instinctively recognized I was a troublemaker, meaning I did not conform and I would influence their children, which I did. I did my best to disrupt every friend's home, partly out of envy that I didn't have this so-called home ..."

     He listened to Elvis Presley and African American R & B records. He spent much of his youth living with his mother's sister, Aunt Mimi, but his mother often came by and supported his interest in music -- listening to records with him and teaching him how to play the banjo and the piano.

     In high school he was described as a humorous, happy-go-lucky kid who paid little attention to his studies. His school reports were pretty damning:  "Certainly on the road to failure ... a clown in class ... wasting other pupils' time." Yet he showed artistic talent, drew cartoons for his school paper, and claimed that one day he would be famous.

     His mother bought him his first guitar in 1956. She had it delivered to her house -- not to her sister's house where her son was living at the time. The sister hoped the boy would get tired of music and settle down to a more traditional vocation. "The guitar's all very well," she told the boy, "but you'll never make a living out of it."

     His mother was run over and killed by a car in 1958, further roiling his life. He couldn't get into a regular college, so he attended an art institute where he disrupted classes, ridiculed teachers, failed his exams -- and met his first wife Cynthia.

     Meanwhile, he had started a band, and he began to put together the group that would lead him to fame -- but not without a few bumps in the road. He brought in his school friend, Stuart Sutcliffe, to play bass in the band, but he soon quit. The fledgling band signed on a drummer who toured with them to Germany, but then he was replaced by a percussionist with more star power.

     Finally the band settled on its four players. They worked hard, got a lot of experience, and soon went on to fame and fortune. But the rebellious art-school dropout, who would now be 72, was always the leader. His equally famous songwriting partner later admitted that the other band members idolized him. "He was like our own little Elvis ... He was older and very much the leader, he was the quickest wit and the smartest."

     The band's first single was released in October 1962, and by 1963 the lads were topping the charts in England. And if you don't know who I'm referring to by now, you weren't alive in the 1960s. They made their first trip to America in February 1964 and appeared on . . . well, where were you when the Beatles first appeared on Ed Sullivan?

     There's a lot of argument over what song rates as the biggest selling Lennon/McCartney tune. But the best estimate has to be:

     As far as the best-selling John Lennon solo, it was recorded in 1971, after the Beatles broke up, when he was entering the next phase of his life in New York City -- and where as we all know he was shot and killed while walking to his apartment in The Dakota on December 8, 1980.

     In case you're wondering if these songs are still relevant, 40 or 50 years later, I can report that they're still being sung by recording artists all across the universe. If you're interested in more, try the link to this version of Imagine by David Archuleta from American Idol a few years ago; and this modern take on I Wanna Hold Your Hand from the 2007 movie Across the Universe.

Remember Her?

     She was born in Port Arthur, Texas, in January 1943. Her mother worked as a registrar for a local business college; her father was an engineer for the oil company Texaco. Can you figure out who she was?

     She sang in her church choir, but as a preteen spent more time perfecting her painting skills than practicing her scales. She went to her local public high school where there must have been something in the water. One of her classmates was actor G. W. Bailey (Rizzo in the TV series "MASH", currently Detective Louie Provenza in "The Closer") as well as football player Jimmy Johnson (who played for the national championship team at University of Arkansas and later coached the University of Miami to a national championship and the Dallas Cowboys to two Superbowl championships.)

     However, she was not a standout in high school -- at least not for the right reasons. She gained weight and suffered from a bad case of acne, and instead of listening to current pop music, she fell in with a crowd that listened to African-American Blues singers like Bessie Smith and Billie Holiday. She was taunted with nicknames like "Pig" or "Freak" or "Creep." Later, looking back, she simply described herself as a "misfit."

     She went to Lamar State College in Beaumont, Texas, then to the University of Texas, where she recorded her first song, "What Good Can Drinkin' Do." A 1962 article in the Daily Texan called "She Dares to Be Different" began: "She goes barefooted when she feels like it, wears Levi's to class because they're more comfortable and carries her autoharp with her everywhere she goes so that in case she gets the urge to break into song it will be handy."

Her psychedelically painted Porsche

     She left college in 1963 and headed to San Francisco, where she teamed up with fellow up-and-coming musicians to record some blues standards. In San Francisco she also launched herself into the drug scene, taking amphetamines and psychedelic drugs, washing them down with Southern Comfort.

     In 1965 she tried to clean up her act. She returned to Port Arthur, Texas, and went back to school at Lamar College, while occasionally making the trip up to Austin to perform solo, accompanying herself on the guitar.

     The following year a music producer from San Francisco recruited her to join a band, and so she moved back to California and began to play at the Avalon Ballroom and other venues. The band released its debut album in August 1967, which included the hit single "Down on Me." They toured the East Coast where they appeared on the "Dick Cavett Show" and performed with Jimi Hendrix, Joni Mitchell and Richie Havens. Time magazine called the lead singer "probably the most powerful singer to emerge from the white rock movement."

     The band, called Big Brother and the Holding Company, put out a second album, Cheap Thrills, which was almost immediately certified gold and reached Number 1 on the Billboard charts. It featured the hit single "Piece of My Heart" and a version of the George Gershwin song, "Summertime," the kind of soulful rendition that could only have been performed by . . . Janis Joplin.

     When Janis Joplin first joined Big Brother, after returning to San Francisco from Texas, the band resolved not to take drugs. The resolution was well-intended, but soon was diluted by alcohol and eventually by the harder stuff. By the time Janis Joplin appeared at Woodstock in August 1968, she was injecting drugs intravenously.

     Joplin broke with Big Brother at the end of 1968 and formed a new group, The Kosmic Blues Band, which lasted a year and recorded one album. Joplin then started the Full Tilt Boogie Band, which she took on tour across Canada, ending in Boston, playing her last live performance at Harvard Stadium on August 12, 1970.

     At the end of August she checked into the Landmark Motor Hotel in Los Angeles and began rehearsing and recording a new album. The last recording she completed, on October 1, 1970, was the a cappella "Mercedes Benz", in which she asks the Lord to buy her a Mercedes Benz.

    Three days later Joplin's producer grew concerned when she didn't show up for rehearsal. He sent the band's road manager to the Landmark to see if anything was wrong. The manager spied her psychedelically painted Porsche sitting in the parking lot, and when he got up to her room he found her lying dead on the floor beside her bed. The official cause of death was overdose of heroin, possibly combined with the effects of alcohol.

     Janis Joplin was cremated, her ashes spread over the Pacific Ocean from an airplane. Her last album, Pearl, came out posthumously in January 1971.

     She died at age 27, but her legacy lives on -- in her style, in opening new opportunities for women in rock music, and in influencing later popular singers. Current female vocalist Florence Welch, of Florence and the Machine is one who, along with Stevie Nicks, Nina Simone, Bette Midler and others, acknowledges her debt to Joplin. Said Welch of Joplin: "There was always a sense of longing, of searching for something. She really sums up the idea that soul is about putting your pain into something beautiful."

     Tony Award winner Nina Arianda is scheduled to play Janis Joplin in a biopic film directed by Sean Durkin, scheduled to begin production early next year. 

     But here is the original Janis Joplin, with that soulful song appropriate for the season:

Hello?

     Does anyone recall Lionel Richie? He started out in the 1970s with the Commodores, and then went on to a successful solo career. I liked Lionel Richie, even though I was embarrassed to admit it because he was more than a little sappy and syrupy.

     But he must have been doing something right. He recorded big hits like "Truly" and "My Love" and the soothing if somewhat monotonous "Say You, Say Me" as well as the more upbeat "Dancing on the Ceiling."

    A friend of mine recently put me on to this clip, which I thought was amusing, and serves as an appropriate follow-up to my previous post about the movies. To the tune of one of Richie's other big hits, it brings back memories of  ... okay, Apollo 13 is easy. Then there's Schindler's List, Annie Hall, Goodfellas. Do you know which one is Being John Malkovitch? How about American Beauty? Can you name any of the others?

"Something Strange Here Is Going On"

     The following clip has nothing to do with Baby Boomers or retirement, or anything else involved with "health, finance, grown-up children ... and how time flies."

     Nevertheless, in the spirit of the season ... is there a Zombie lurking around the corner? A ghost hovering over the proceedings? What is the significance of the haunting violin? I'm not sure, I only know that --

       "Something strange here is going on ..."

  

I Know I'm Fakin' It

     I am not a "techie." I am not computer person. I know how to type pretty well (I took a class the summer after 11th grade) and I can process words. But most of the time I have no idea how to figure things out on the computer.

     We have a 20-something male in the house who helps me sometimes, as long as I'm willing to put up with a long, extended and not-so-subtle eye roll. But most of the time I'm pecking away on my keyboard, just hoping that nothing will go wrong.

     I've been working on this blog now for about ten months, and I like to think I've figured out a few things. But, honestly, I feel just the way I did when I took calculus in college -- always on the edge of understanding what was going on, but never mastering the subject, never getting comfortable with it. I'd learn just enough to answer the questions on the tests, then heave a sigh of relief and try to cleanse my mind of the anxiety and feelings of incompetence that came with calculus.  

     So it is with blogging. Not the writing part; I can deal with that. But the technical part.

     For example, one of my relatively frequent commenters was recently kind enough to notify me that a few people were having trouble making comments on my blog posts. I'm glad she notified me. But, OMG, I had no idea what I could do about it!

     I poked around blogger for a while and found that there's a spam folder on the comments page. Who knew? When I opened the spam folder I saw a few obviously commercial comments, along with a couple of notes that seemed a little sketchy. But nothing in the spam folder looked like anything from my familiar blogging names. That wasn't the problem, but I didn't know what else to do.

     So I did what I do best. I stuck my head in the sand and hoped the problem would go away. It didn't. And eventually, after another notice, I poked around some more, and found a place where blogger lists "known problems." There were problems relating to the "embedded form" of comments, and a suggestion to switch to either "full-page" or "pop-up forms." I stumbled around and figured out how to do that, then shrugged my shoulders and made the change. Lo and behold ... it worked! Don't ask me why. And ... for how long, who knows?

     I'm just not comfortable with technical things. I don't want to tell you how long I fiddled and faddled with the design function of blogger before I was able to devise something presentable. And there are still blogger functions that baffle me. Links? I see them, but I don't know what they are exactly, much less how to create them.

     So I procrastinate. When I first started my blog, I saw there was an adsense option to place ads on your blog. I thought, why not? It only took me ten months to get around to doing that. Now I worry the ads are intrusive -- but I don't think they're too bad. If people do think they're obnoxious, please let me know. I'm not doing this for the money. Besides, if I were to make any, then I'd have to set up a Paypal account. I have no idea how to do that. And it would be another ten months before I even tried!

     Like Paul Simon, I know I've just been fakin' it, not really makin' it. But ... is there any danger ... no, no not really ... I'm takin' time to treat my friendly neighbors honestly. But still ... this feelin' of fakin' it. I still haven't shaken it.

   

Morning at the Grocery Store

     One way you know you're getting on in years? When the highlight of your day is a trip to the grocery store.

     Or supermarket. Does anyone know why some people call it the grocery store, and others the supermarket? My ex-wife was from Cleveland, and she maintained only people from the Northeast say grocery store. According to her, people from Ohio say supermarket.

     Of course, my ex-wife also maintained that Ohio is not in the Midwest. According to her, Cleveland is less than 200 miles from Buffalo, NY -- so how could it be the Midwest? The Midwest is Iowa and Nebraska.

     Maybe she's right. I'm no expert on the Midwest. Or grocery stores. I just think grocery store is an old-fashioned word for supermarket.

     Anyway, I found myself driving to the grocery store this morning ... and really looking forward to it. I knew it would be the highlight of my day!

     I'll admit it, I love going to the supermarket. My favorite is Stop & Shop. I also like Shoprite. I do not like the A&P -- it's dark and dingy and I never get the feeling that the food is fresh. Never been to a Whole Foods. I'm just not the type. I do like Publix, but not Winn-Dixie, when I'm down south.

     Anyway, I know a guy who works the checkout at Stop & Shop in the mornings, so I always make a point of saying "hi," and catching up on his life. There's a Starbucks at my grocery store, too, and I'll often get a cafe latte or cappuccino. I'm not really a big Starbucks fan (the coffee's too strong and bitter for my taste, not to mention too expensive), but B doesn't like me to drink more than two cups of coffee in the morning, so this way I can have two at home, and then hit up Starbucks for my third. Don't worry, I usually get a Tall or Grande, not the Venti or supersized Trenta.

     Yesterday, I was going mostly because B was having a friend over for breakfast and I wanted to get out of the house. But I needed to get some shaving cream from the Health and Beauty aisle, and I thought I might need a new toothbrush, and B wanted me to pick up a 5 lb. bag of potatoes so she could make potato salad. No problem. I'll do anything for potato salad.

     But I love to wander around (while I drink my Grande) and get an eyeful of all the wonderful wares around the store. I headed for the produce section, found the five-pound bag of white potatoes. And then ... oh, the red potatoes are on sale. I love red potatoes. So I put a bag in my cart. Saved 50 cents.

    I went over to the fish counter, just to see what they were preparing for the day. Didn't buy anything. Then I recalled that we'd had fish for dinner the night before, and B said we were out of tartar sauce. So I found the condiment aisle, spotted the tartar sauce, and then also picked up some horseradish sauce as well. I knew we were out, and I love horseradish sauce on my sandwiches.

     Well, I won't bore you with my entire Stop & Shop experience. Let's just say I entertained myself for a good half hour, or 45 minutes. Got a gallon of milk, because B's son who lives with us glugs milk day and night. And ... well, the ice cream was on sale, so I just had to pick up some ice cream. Three half-gallons for $8. I wasn't sure if the sale counted if you buy less than three. No problem. I bought three.

     But the moment I realized that the grocery store would be the highlight of my day came when I arrived at the Health and Beauty aisle. I was assaying all the different toothbrush choices when I suddenly noticed the music. I like the music they pipe in at the grocery store -- and by the way, this is how you know you're getting on in years, if you like the music they pipe in at the grocery store. There's a lot of 50s and 60s music, but some more modern choices as well -- light rock, pop songs, or alternative music.

     So you get plenty of pleasant background music at the grocery store, some of it original, some more obviously piped in reinterpretations. But here's the song that stopped me in the Health and Beauty aisle. I stood there, listening to the song, thinking to myself:  How lame is this? I don't just like the music; here I am stopping what I'm doing and really listening to it!

     But then again ... this is a good song, one of Coldplay's first hits (altho' kind of a disturbing video). So if you want, you can share in my grocery store experience. Just take a listen.

Best Songs of Summer

     According to the astronomical calendar, summer started on June 21. But according to the cultural calendar, it began on Memorial Day, and runs through Labor Day -- 14 weeks of picnics, barbecues, beach parties, gardening and outdoor sports, all accompanied by a blaring radio, or stereo ... or iPod.

     That puts us, right now, in the middle of July, smack dab in the middle of summer. And so I went in search of the very best summer songs ... Baby Boomer style, of course. For those of you with some time on your hands, here are the links; plus, my two favorites down at the bottom. Did I miss one?

# 14.  "In the Summertime" by Jerry Mungo -- a funky beat from a British singer, circa 1970.

# 13.  "Summertime Blues" by Eddie Cochran -- a top hit from way back in 1958.

# 12.  "Summer Nights" with Olivia Newton-John and John Travolta -- from the 1978 movie Grease.

# 11.  "Summer in the City" by the Lovin' Spoonful -- I had a friend in high school who loved this song, played it all the time. Annoyed the hell out of me. But it's still a classic.

#10.   "Surf City" by Jan and Dean -- co-written by Jan Berry and Brian Wilson, topped the charts in 1963.

# 9.   "Those Lazy, Hazy, Crazy Days of Summer" from Nat King Cole -- how can you not sing along with this goofy song from 1963.

# 8.   "Summer Wind" from Frank Sinatra -- with lyrics by Johnny Mercer, it became a classic for the Chairman of the Board.

# 7.  "Under the Boardwalk" from The Drifters -- in 1964, "on a blanket with my baby's where I'll be..."

# 6.   "Somebody to Love" by Jefferson Airplane, a touchstone for the 1967 Summer of Love.

# 5.   "California Girls" by the Beach Boys -- top hit from their 1965 album Summer Days.

# 4.   "Summer of '69" by Bryan Adams -- a hit from 1985, but an ode of summers of yore.

# 3.   "School's Out" by Alice Cooper -- the 1972 rant captures the sheer thrill of getting out of school for the summer, a feeling none of us will ever forget, no matter how old we are. This song also energized the popular 1998 Cameron Diaz comedy There's Something About Mary.

# 2.   "Stand By Me," from Ben E. King -- the Number 1 song of 1961, and theme song of the 1986 movie about four young friends searching for a dead body in the summer of 1959, starring Will Wheaton, River Phoenix, Corey Feldman, Jerry O'Connell and Kiefer Sutherland as the "bad boy" older kid.

# 1.   "Summertime" from George Gershwin's Porgy and Bess -- It's been recorded by Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald and other greats, but my favorite version was rasped out by Janis Joplin, circa 1969.

Turning Over a Rolling Stone

     I don't know why, but I consider this clip completely mesmerizing -- so I thought I'd share. It's the lead guitar part of "Gimme Shelter" as played by Keith Richards, from the 1969 album Let It Bleed.

     If you like this, you may want to know that there are a number of other "isolated tracks" on youtube, and many of them offer a whole new perspective on a song. Another one I thought was pretty cool:  the isolated keyboard and bass track for "Get Back" by the Beatles.

     By the way, as I'm sure Rolling Stones fans are aware, Keith Richards recently published his autobiography, Life. The book came out in paperback just this past week. I must admit I haven't read it, but according to all reports, it covers the lead guitarist of the world's greatest band (or depending on your taste, age or point of view, the world's second or third greatest band) and his marathon journey into music, Mick, marijuana and money -- and also a few things that don't alliterate, such as sex and heroin.

     Enjoy!

The Most Popular Song at the Dance

     B and I went to a dance last night. We do a little ballroom dancing now and then. Some Swing and Foxtrot. Cha cha and Salsa. We're not particularly good at it, but we have fun and meet a lot of nice people.

     There's a whole subculture of ballroom dancing, populated mostly by an older crowd. At every dance there's a small group of  real good dancers.  The women show up in backless dresses and skirts that twirl around; the men wear suspenders and dancing shoes. You can tell, they've been doin' it for 50 years.

     Most of the other couples -- well, they look like they're trying real hard. Clearly, the women have dragged their spouses into the program. And the women look pretty good, turning and dipping and twisting. But the men are slow and awkward. They clomp around the dance floor like Frankenstein trying to escape from his Transylvanian castle. (Count me among this crowd.) But, you know, the guys are all smiling and laughing, having a good time. And so are their dancing partners -- a lot of them wives, but a number of girlfriends and a few singles as well.

     There's also a "younger set". The freshmen. The greenhorns. The newbies. These are the people in their early 50s.

     We meet in church basements, the back rooms of restaurants; in the summer we go outdoors on the terrace. Last weekend there was a big dance at a ballroom in Manhattan. A few of the more sophisticated dancers from our group boarded a train and went in for that one. We didn't make it.

     One fellow at last night's dance celebrated his birthday. He was turning 98 years old. Not kidding. And he was out there cutting the rug with the best of them. So there's your prescription for staying young and healthy, fit and happy.

     This is last night's most requested song. Now get up and dance!

America Still Rocks!

     Anyone watch the Grammy Awards show last night? For those of you who think the music ended with James Taylor or Pink Floyd (as I sometimes do), I'm happy to report that the world of popular music has been handed down to a new, exciting and very young group of performers. And I'm not talking about Lady Gaga, who gets a lot of press but leaves me kind of cold.

The show did open with a nod to a few oldtimers. First came a rousing tribute to Aretha Franklin, featuring some great vocals by Christina Aguilera, Jennifer Hudson, Yolanda Adams, Martina McBride and Florence Welch.

     Bob Dylan, at age 69, sashayed out to sing "Maggie's Farm." He was completely upstaged by the two young bands backing him up: Mumford Sons, and The Avett Brothers. Mick Jagger, 67, and Barbra Streisand, 68, croaked their way through a couple of songs. I hate to say it, but they also looked old and out of place.

     So the night belonged to fresh, young acts, like these two people I'd never even heard of -- Bruno Mars, age 25, and B.o.B., age 22. Check 'em out:

 

     One of my favorite performers, Gwyneth Paltrow (who at age 39 still seems young to me), did a hilarious number with a fellow named Cee Lo Green. I never heard of him either; but I do know the Muppets. (Fast forward through the first minute of the clip unless you want to hear the overlong intro. by Jamie Foxx).
.

     And one more -- a performance by Rihanna, Eminem, Dr. Dre and Skyler Gray. (Skip the first minute unless you like Seth Rogen.) To put your mind at rest, I checked out the lyrics for this song, "Need a Doctor." They do not in any way involve violence against women or anyone else. See what I mean? Our economy may be falling apart; our politics more strident than ever. But these days the world of music is in very capable and creative hands!